3 Killed in North Caucasus Shootout – Police

PYATIGORSK, October 27 (RIA Novosti) – Three people were killed Saturday during a shootout in the town of Nazran in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, a spokesman for the regional Interior Ministry department said.

“Two masked people opened fire on a police officer at 12:45 Moscow Time. The officer opened return fire,” the spokesman said.

“As a result of the shootout, two attackers were killed, and a woman who was on the site was wounded and later died in a hospital,” he said.

The police officer has been detained pending clarification of circumstances.

Earlier reports said the shootout was started by Ingush residents after a bride was allegedly kidnapped. Bride kidnapping is a practice still common in the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is illegal in most countries.

An investigation is under way.

More than a decade after the formal end of the federal military campaign against separatists in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, Russian security forces continue to fight militants in neighboring Dagestan and other regions in the area, who stage frequent attacks on security forces, police and civilians, driven by ethnic, religious and political rivalries, as well as poverty and corruption.

The violence is also fed by an Islamist insurgency, which has been especially resilient in Dagestan.